Woman fighting to reclaim her face from Albania's 'AI minister'

Tirana, Albania: Albanian actor Anila Bisha is renowned for playing complex women on the stage and screen, skills honed over a 30 year career, but now...

Tirana, Albania: Albanian actor Anila Bisha is renowned for playing complex women on the stage and screen, skills honed over a 30-year career, but now she lives in the shadow of her AI avatar and a performance she never gave.

Last September, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced with much fanfare he had appointed what he claimed was the first AI-generated minister, tasked with preventing corruption in public tenders.

Within days, the "minister" would deliver its inaugural parliamentary speech.

“I am not here to replace people, but to help them,” the bot, a digital doppelganger of Bisha in traditional Albanian dress, said in a video message that would garner headlines around the world.

But Bisha, watching her familiar face deliver a speech she knew nothing about, in a role she never agreed to, was left reeling.